LSDDEP2: study protocol for a randomised, double-dummy, triple-blind, active placebo-controlled, parallel groups trial of LSD microdosing in patients with major depressive disorder.

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) poses a significant global health burden with available treatments limited by inconsistent efficacy and notable side effects. Classic psychedelics, including lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), have garnered attention for their potential in treating psychiatric disorders. Microdosing, the repeated consumption of sub-hallucinogenic doses of psychedelics, has emerged as a self-treatment approach for depression within lay communities.

Anxiety, Disability, and Pain Predict Outcomes of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: An 8-year Follow-up of a Prospective Cohort.

Factors contributing to the varied outcomes of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) are not well known. This study aimed to determine whether baseline psychological factors, pain, and disability influence long-term CRPS outcomes. We conducted an 8-year follow-up from a previous prospective study of CRPS outcomes.

The perceptions of cancer health-care practitioners in New Zealand and the USA toward psychedelic-assisted therapy with cancer patients: A cross-sectional survey.

Objectives: A resurgence of research investigating the administration of psychedelic compounds alongside psychotherapy suggests that this treatment is a promising intervention for anxiety, depression, and existential distress in people with cancer. However, psychedelic treatment that induces a mind-altering experience potentially poses barriers to vulnerable cancer patients, and health-care practitioners may have concerns about referring their patients to trials investigating this approach. The aim of the current study was to investigate the perceptions of cancer health-care practitioners based in New Zealand and the USA related to psychedelic-assisted therapy.

Digital competency of Psychologists in Aotearoa New Zealand: A cross-sectional survey.

Background: The increasing implementation of digital health into psychological practice is transforming mental health services. Limited clinical resources and the high demand for psychological services, alongside the restrictions imposed on services during the global COVID-19 pandemic, have been a catalyst for significant changes in the way psychologists work. Ensuring Psychologists have the skills and competence to use these tools in practice is essential to safe and ethical practice.

The benefits and acceptability of virtual reality interventions for women with metastatic breast cancer in their homes; a pilot randomised trial.

Background: Women with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) report debilitating physical and psychological symptoms, including fatigue, anxiety, and pain, that greatly impact their quality of life. Immersive virtual reality (VR) has been proposed as an adjunctive pain therapy for patients with cancer, and evidence suggests it may also decrease symptoms of anxiety and depression. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess whether VR should be pursued as a feasible and acceptable adjunctive therapy to alleviate physical and psychological symptoms in women with MBC.

Will I have sex to please you? Evaluating whether mindfulness buffers links between attachment and sexual motivations in daily life.

Insecurely attached individuals are more likely to report more maladaptive sexual motivations that predict worse personal and interpersonal outcomes. Given that mindfulness has been linked with improved relationship and sexual experiences, and that these effects may be moderated by attachment, the current study examined the possible buffering role of trait mindfulness on the links between attachment insecurity and daily sexual motives. Participants from New Zealand (N = 70) took part in a daily diary study that overcame limitations associated with previous cross-sectional research in the area (e.

Cancer Healthcare Workers' Perceptions toward Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: A Preliminary Investigation.

Recent clinical trials suggest that psychedelic-assisted therapy is a promising intervention for reducing anxiety and depression and ameliorating existential despair in advanced cancer patients. However, little is known about perceptions toward this treatment from the key gatekeepers to this population. The current study aimed to understand the perceptions of cancer healthcare professionals about the potential use of psychedelic-assisted therapy in advanced cancer patients.

"I Don't Identify with It": A Qualitative Analysis of People's Experiences of Living with Complex Regional Pain Styndrome.

Objective: Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a painful limb condition known to cause significant disability and distress. However, little previous research has explored CRPS from a patient perspective. The present qualitative study aimed to describe the experiences of people living with CRPS.

Stigma in the face of cancer disfigurement: A systematic review and research agenda.

Introduction: An emerging body of work has reported on the psychological impact of disfigurement on cancer patients; however, the extent of research focusing on stigmatisation in this context is unclear. This review aimed to evaluate how stigma associated with disfigurement impacts on cancer patients.

Methods: A systematic review of literature was conducted using SCOPUS, Web of Science, MEDLINE and PubMed databases.

The "Ick" Factor: An Unrecognized Affective Predictor of Physical Symptoms During Chemotherapy.

Background: Patients undergoing chemotherapy experience a range of aversive symptoms. These symptoms vary across individuals and at least some of this variation can be predicted by psychological factors, such as distress. However, while psychological distress predicts some of the symptoms, it is limited in important ways.

When mental illness and cancer collide: An investigation of the predictors of outcomes for cancer patients with a history of mental health problems.

Objective: People with a serious mental health condition are no more likely to receive a diagnosis of cancer than the general population but fare more poorly in terms of outcomes. The current study investigated whether a background of mental health problems (measured by contact with mental health services and psychotropic medication) predicted treatment outcomes over and above demographic and medical confounds for cancer patients at Counties Manukau Health.

Methods: The sample consisted of 1652 patients diagnosed with cancer in the period 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016.

Fighting the flinch: Experimentally induced compassion makes a difference in health care providers.

Objectives: Although health care providers are required to sustain care in difficult circumstances, some patients challenge this principle. Evoking compassion seems likely to be helpful in such situations. This research aimed to evaluate whether inducing compassion in health care providers might mitigate disengagement with patients who have challenging presenting features such as those with disgusting symptoms and/or are to blame for their own health problems.

Emotional predictors of bowel screening: the avoidance-promoting role of fear, embarrassment, and disgust.

Background: Despite considerable efforts to address practical barriers, colorectal cancer screening numbers are often low. People do not always act rationally, and investigating emotions may offer insight into the avoidance of screening. The current work assessed whether fear, embarrassment, and disgust predicted colorectal cancer screening avoidance.

Parasite stress and pathogen avoidance relate to distinct dimensions of political ideology across 30 nations.

People who are more avoidant of pathogens are more politically conservative, as are nations with greater parasite stress. In the current research, we test two prominent hypotheses that have been proposed as explanations for these relationships. The first, which is an intragroup account, holds that these relationships between pathogens and politics are based on motivations to adhere to local norms, which are sometimes shaped by cultural evolution to have pathogen-neutralizing properties.

The "ick" Factor Matters: Disgust Prospectively Predicts Avoidance in Chemotherapy Patients.

Background: Chemotherapy can be physically and psychologically demanding. Avoidance and withdrawal are common among patients coping with these demands.

Purpose: This report compares established emotional predictors of avoidance during chemotherapy (embarrassment; distress) with an emotion (disgust) that has been unstudied in this context.

Does a brief state mindfulness induction moderate disgust-driven social avoidance and decision-making? An experimental investigation.

In this experimental study, we evaluated whether manipulated disgust and mindfulness predicted social avoidance in bowel health contexts. Community participants (n = 101) were randomised to conditions in which disgust and/or state mindfulness were experimentally induced. Tasks assessing social avoidance and perceptions of available social networks in the context of bowel/health problems were conducted.

Trait and state disgust: an experimental investigation of disgust and avoidance in colorectal cancer decision scenarios.

Objective: To evaluate whether trait and experimentally manipulated state disgust independently and/or interactively predict immediate and anticipated avoidance in decision scenarios related to colorectal cancer (CRC).

Method: Eighty participants, aged 18 to 66 years, completed questionnaires assessing trait disgust prior to a laboratory session. Participants were gender block randomized to disgust or control conditions before completing tasks assessing immediate avoidance of a CRC disgust elicitor (stoma bag) and anticipated avoidance in hypothetical CRC scenarios.

Disgust and behavioral avoidance in colorectal cancer screening and treatment: a systematic review and research agenda.

Background: The emotion of disgust appears to promote psychological and behavioral avoidance, a dynamic that has significant implications in physical and psychological outcomes in colorectal cancer (CRC). Patients, caregivers, and health professionals alike are all potentially susceptible to responding with disgust and the associated avoidance.

Objective: This article aimed to review the early-stage literature related to disgust and CRC, consider the clinical implications, and suggest an appropriate research agenda.

Factors associated with methicillin-resistant versus methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus pseudintermedius infection in dogs.

Objective: To compare methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP) and methicillin-susceptible S pseudintermedius (MSSP) infections in dogs.

Design: Multicenter case-control study.

Animals: Dogs with MRSP infections were matched, by hospital, with 2 MSSP controls, with the infections occurring immediately before and after the case infection.

Effect of an anti-inflammatory dose of prednisone on thyroid hormone monitoring in hypothyroid dogs.

It is not uncommon for a hypothyroid dog to be receiving concurrent corticosteroids. As hypothyroid dogs receiving thyroid supplement need periodic monitoring, knowledge of whether prednisone alters thyroid hormone concentrations would be useful to determine whether testing can or should be done while the dog is receiving therapy and whether dose adjustments are appropriate. In this study, the effect of short-term anti-inflammatory prednisone was determined in dogs with naturally occurring hypothyroidism.